The invention concerns a bending tool for bending workpieces, especially sheet metal, with at least one part by means of which the workpiece can be bent when acted on by an abutment of part of the bending tool along the line of force of the tool, and at least one part of the bending tool has workpiece abutment segments that can be adjusted to different positions in relation to one another in the direction of the line of force.
In industrial practice, it is often necessary to change the width of bending tools or individual parts of them. If a workpiece needs to be bent with a conventional bending tool with upper and lower dies and was first free-cut on a piece of sheet metal connected to the rest of the sheet on one side, to prevent the rest of the sheet from being deformed, the width of the upper die and the width of the lower die may exceed the bending length of the workpiece, in any case, by the width of the cutting gap between the workpiece and the rest of the sheet. Different bending lengths thus require different widths for the upper and lower dies. It is also possible to imagine cases of machining where only the width of one of the two parts of the bending tool needs to be changed.
Segmented upper and lower dies whose individual segments come in different widths are needed to provide variable tool widths. The tool widths can be adjusted to meet the requirements of the machining job by putting the segments together. The segments of both the upper and lower die are lined up next to one another with no gaps in between. If the tool width that is needed changes, tool segments can be removed and not replaced, added or replaced with segments of another width.
A generic bending tool is known from EP 0 577 068 A1. In the state of the art, a part of the bending tool in the form of a hold-down clamp that works with a swiveling cheek is divided into segments which are arranged next to one another in the direction of the line of force used to machine the workpiece. The distances between the adjacent clamp segments can be varied by means of an adjustment device. That way, the entire width of the clamp can be varied. To make the clamp the minimum width, the clamp segments are placed close together in a tight sequence. To enlarge the clamp segments, spaces are made in the line that the tool follows.
The purpose of this invention is to provide a high quality bending tool, which is variable in width of the tool or part of it, and to incorporate this type of bending tool into a bending machine.
A specific object is to provide such a tool in which the adjacent segments are coupled and guided in their relative movement by interfitting elements.